Shortly after half past two in the afternoon, local time, it started to rain over Royal Troon. It didn’t stop until eight ten, just when Daniel Brown holed his double bogey putt on the 18th hole and Shane Lowry did the same with his bogey. The classic Scottish prank.
The last seven matches of the moving day sucked in a puff of time. One of those days when there is no caddie to save you, on planet earth there are not enough towels to dry the clubs and you need a truck of gloves to change almost after each stroke. Madness.
If we add to this the wind, this time from the north, which started to pick up around four in the afternoon and never stopped, it turns out that the Open, once again, blessed British of our innards, gave us the umpteenth ode to the epic. God save the Open.
The worst part, by far, was taken by the last matches, so the moving day lived up to its name. Therefore, a gentleman like the South African Thriston Lawrence (-3), who started three hours and ten minutes before the stellar match, has sneaked into the last tee time on Sunday. He started Saturday ten strokes off the lead and has moved to one, climbing more than thirty positions.
His spectacular climb has a lot to do with his stellar 65, only matched by Sam Burns (-3), another who has moved to one stroke from the lead coming from another planet, but above all it is due to the carnage that has been lived in the last matches, especially in the last nine holes, played under a relentless curtain of water, with a noticeable drop in temperatures and with a significant headwind. A savagery.
Thus, we have seen second shots on holes 11 or 15 of 240 meters, 3 woods on the tee of 17, par 3, golfers who did not arrive in two on the 15 or three on the 16 if they missed the rough in one of the first two shots. A perfectly drawn carnage on the expressive face of a dislocated Shane Lowry (-1). How the matter must have been to upset an Irish warrior like Lowry and a guy who until hole 8 has shown a hurricane-proof trade. From the 8 his partial has been +7. Each stroke was practically a slice. A martyrdom.
Daniel Brown (-3), who held up like a jabato with that simple, orderly and efficient golf, also ended up blowing up. He resisted more than Lowry, with that semblance that seems more German or Danish than English, but he ended up derailing on 17 and 18, just when he was about to write a beautiful page in history: to go out on Sunday in the stellar match in his first Major. Almost nothing. But it won’t be. Three more in the two holes. In both cases swallowed by the sand.
His tee shot on the 18th hole was almost balanced on the edge of the left bunker, so he had no choice but to get into the sand trap and hit the shot with the ball at eye level. He could only advance a few meters and his third shot, still quite long, was bad, again to the bunker. The ball was so close to the slope that he had to forget about the flag. He took it out about eight meters from the hole and missed the putt. Double bogey.
Billy Horschel (-4), sole leader of the tournament, and Justin Rose (-3) have been the main exponents of the epic of a terrifying day of British Open. With the cap backwards to avoid the water sliding down the visor into the eyes, the gaze set on fire with intensity, with fabulous determination and celebrating each putt as if it were the last of their lives, they have given a lesson in survival, especially the American, with an exhibition from the sand and on the greens. It will be his second lead in a Major since the second round of the US Open in 2013, it has rained since then, and the first before a final round.
This epic moving day has left us with an extraordinary Open outcome. There are seven players separated by a single stroke, of which only Xander Schauffele (-3) and Justin Rose (-3) know what it means to win a Major. In addition, there are the aforementioned Lawrence, Brown, Burns and Russell Henley. All one stroke behind Horschel.
Two strokes behind is a Scottie Scheffler (-2) who admitted to having lived the most difficult nine holes of his entire career. The world Number One is there and his chances of victory simply pass by putting in a decent way. Without holing practically anything he is there. If tomorrow he has a good day on the greens, the rest will have to step aside. Shane Lowry (-1) closes the list of players under par.
Beyond, there are fourteen players separated only by five strokes, among them Justin Thomas (PAR) and Adam Scott (PAR). Anything can happen this Sunday. And Jon Rahm… six behind. Just in case.
God save the Open.
